McClatchy takes big loss

NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - McClatchy Co said on Thursday it swung to a third-quarter loss after taking a $1.37 billion writedown caused by a poor advertising climate and a reduction in the value of the acquisition of Knight Ridder Inc.

The U.S. newspaper publisher's net loss was $1.35 billion, or $16.42 per share, compared to a year-earlier net profit of $51.8 million, or 64 cents per share.

Last month, McClatchy reported a preliminary profit from continuing operations of $23.5 million, or 29 cents a share. Those results are not changing, the company said.

"As I said last month when we released our preliminary earnings, we recognize that newspaper revenues have declined industry-wide and that values have dropped," Chief Executive Gary Pruitt said in a news release.

"We do not know when this downturn will end, and do not have visibility beyond the fourth quarter," he added. "Nonetheless, we believe that cyclical factors represent a significant portion of the current advertising downturn as evidenced by our operations in the California and Florida regions."

The write-down, equivalent to $16.68 per share, included a $1.18 billion goodwill impairment charge, of which about a third was because of the accounting treatment of common stock it issued when it bought Knight Ridder and its newspapers in 2006.

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